First in the Eastern Conference. Third best record in the league. Most threatening second unit. The list of Toronto accolades at this point in the season grows more and more daunting. They are an interesting team that has seen a massive change in playstyle. Their superstars, Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan are still incredible leaders, but now play in a team style of basketball that lessens the pressure to perform in a heroic fashion on a night to night basis.

The Raptors' growth, while incredibly exciting as a NBA fan, is a bit stifling as a fantasy manager because value is all spread out amongst the deep roster. Today, I will pick at two players who have really stepped up and solidified a reliable role, not only as a key player for the Raptors, but also a stable fantasy option.

Jonas Valanciunas, the starting center from Lithuania, is highly underrated when it comes to centers, and has dominated in many marquee matchups. The real revelation has been Fred VanVleet, the young guard who has dictated the pace on both ends of the floor for the second unit. Both players warrant a deep dive into what makes them the players they are.

JV & FVV

Let’s start off with some team summary notes. The Raptors are entering a stretch of games where they play Orlando, Cleveland, Brooklyn, the Clippers, and Denver. These are all teams who have poor paint defense and/or defensively-deficient centers. It’s a rare opportunity for JV to have some major showcase games. They also play CLE and ORL one more time after that. This goes for any manager starting a center against one of these teams!

To add to these games, the Raptors also are playing two big games against Boston and Indiana, some of their biggest competition for seeding in the East. They should play harder than normal in these games. To help visualize the strength of the second unit, let’s look at lineup data. The most played lineup consists of OG Anunoby, DeRozan, Serge Ibaka, Lowry, and JV [655 min]. They produce an offensive rating of 112.8 and a defensive rating of 100.7. The second most played lineup is their whole second unit of C.J. Miles, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam, FVV, and Delon Wright [272 min]. This lineup produces a 118.6 offensive rating and a 95.2 defensive rating for a whopping 23.3 net rating!!!!

Valanciunas is currently ranked 72^nd over the season with his stats showing below. He leads his team in rebounding and is at a career high usage rate [21.7%].

He has actually had a pretty consistent past few seasons, and he is being rewarded for his reliability. His improvement has shown on this new style of team play. He is ranked 34^th over the past two months [27 games]. See these stats below.

JV’s individual offensive rating is 120 and his defensive rating is 102. These are honestly beautiful numbers for a starting big, and it’s his second season having these identical ratings. His shooting also has been impressive this season. 10.4% of his shots come from three-point range. This is his first season adding range to his game, and he’s shooting enough shots at a good percentage to add a layer of threat to his offensive game. 44.4% of his shots are from 0-3 feet from the basket, where he is shooting a scorching 69%. He is also shooting a team high post-ups per game where is shooting a nice 55.1%. His consistent scoring is definitely a bright spot.

JV’s next game point to work on is his passing, but he is currently making the 3^rd most passes per game on his team behind his starting guard, so this could already see improvement by next season. Lastly, JV shows excellent defensive skills. He is averaging a 56.3 defensive field goal percentage on 5.1 defended attempts per game. As reference, Joel Embiid has a 53.3 DFG%. On a side note, Poeltl is a great defender in his sophomore year with a 52.3 DFG% on 5.1 attempts (12^th most defended attempts in the league!).

Let’s hop to Raptors 3^rd guard, FVV. VanVleet has become more than a streaming option. He is now a reliable back end of the roster player who might be available on the waiver wire at this point, and could really help make a push in the fantasy playoffs this time of year. FVV leads his team with a 39.4% three point shooting spread. He has a 19% usage rate. He splits his playing time 72% at point guard and the rest of his time at shooting guard. He is ranked 153^rd over the season. Check out his stats below…

Over the past two months, he has also shown signs of growth toward what he will eventually play more like (ranked 76^th). See those stats below…

The biggest thing to trust here is his increase in minutes and Toronto’s trust in FVV to close games in crunch time. He will have some great games in this final stretch of the season. FVV has an individual offensive rating of 114 and a defensive rating of 106. He makes his teammates on the floor better defenders. Trade in FVV for Anunoby’s spot in the starting lineup and the net rating becomes 27.5 with a crazy increase in defensive rating. He has some great looks at distributing and his potential assists, according to NBA’s stat tracker, actually double.

As Lowry gets a bit older, I could see FVV taking more and more minutes off of the 4-time All-Star guard. FVV is taking 33.4% of his shots from 0-3 feet of the basket, shooting at 59.6%. This shooting percentage may come down to a more realistic number as he only shot 42.9% from this range last year. However, FVV is shooting 45.4% of his shots from 3-point range, shooting at a blazing 39.4%. This, scarily enough, could be a realistic number because he shot similarly last year. Fred VanVleet is finally starting to get noticed, and he could be big-time soon along with Raptors center, Jonas Valanciunas.

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